In the current issue of Entertainment Weekly - a magazine I typically read or scan cover-to-cover the day it arrives in our mailbox, Moby lists the twelve CDs he says "you've gotta get - by any means, right now!" Why is this significant? Because although I'm not familiar with Moby's music - I know of his music but can't right now name a song of his - I can't disagree with his list.

1. Joy Division Closer (I used to be a big fan of this band. I probably still am - I just haven't listened to them it years. By the way, I know which band Joy Division became, and why they changed their name.)

2. Bad Brains The Youth Are Getting Restless (I don't know this one.)

3. Nick Drake Bryter Layter (Or this one.)

4. Massive Attack Protection (Or this one, either.)

5. Donna Summer Greatest Hits (I'm not a huge Donna Summer fan, but I like her voice.)

6. Brian Eno and David Byrne My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (This is my favorite album ever. I actually own both versions of it. I bought the original version on cassette when it was first released. It doesn't play very well from overuse, so I recently bought it on CD, and discovered that Qu'ran had been replaced by Very, Very Hungry.)

7. Kraftwerk The Man Machine (Kraftwerk is one of my favorite bands. I don't own this album. I wish I did. I wish I owned all of Kraftwerk's albums.)

8. Eric B. & Rakim Paid in Full (I don't know this one at all.)

9. Julee Cruise Floating Into the Night (No, wait! This is my favorite album ever. This is a great nighttime album. I regret that I missed the opportunity to see her live in concert at the UW Hub.)

10. Interpol Turn On the Bright Lights (I know of the band, sort of.)

11. Goldfrapp Black Cherry (Come to think of it, there's a lot of music in this list that I'm not familiar with.)

12. David Bowie Station to Station (He's one of my all-time favorite singers. I don't own this album.)

It seems like I have some music to investigate - starting with Moby.

I rode the 9 home this evening, and I'm glad I did, just for the entertainment value. I didn't read anything or try to write anything - I was having too much fun eavesdropping. A young woman with a cute French accent sat in front of me. She sat next to a young man with a heavy Asian accent. The two of them were joined in conversation by a young man in the seat ahead of them. There were a lot of conversations going on around me, so I couldn't hear all of their conversation - it was something about classes they were taking. I loved hearing that French accent. I don't know what it is about French accents - maybe the upturned tone at the end of every sentence. Then the two guys across the aisle started conversing. One guy had a too-loud, droning, slow, monotone voice. It sounded like this: "what this city needs is a kind of heritage council not like the kind where you choose people to head committees you know but one where people actually are valued for what they are..." He talked so loud that I couldn't hear the three-way conversation in front of me at all anymore. Meanwhile, the woman sitting next to me was doing something with her cell phone. I couldn't figure out what, exactly, she was doing, and I didn't want to be too obvious in looking. She was holding it face up in front of her, sort of in her lap but up a little further. Every one in a while, she would push a button - I could see it out of the corner of my eye - just one button, and then she'd continue holding the phone. It was like she was halfway between using it and not. Meanwhile, the French woman and the Asian man were making fists and bending their wrists. The Asian man was showing her something, but I didn't know what. The French woman pretended like she was punching the Asian man, then she giggled. I could see her giggling, but I couldn't hear her. The two of them seemed to be enjoying each other more than they were enjoying the third guy in the seat ahead. Just as we passed the Masonic Temple, Mr. Loud Monotone stopped talking and I could hear the three-way conversation clearly. They were talking about martial arts. (That explained the fists.) The young Asian man, I understood, was some sort of expert. The third guy started asking about different styles and fighters. "What about Bruce Lee?" "What about The Matrix?" The Asian man didn't seem to be enjoying his questions. Then my stop came.

Highlights from my morning walk from Phillip's office to mine:

Saw a pickup truck decorated with a PUNKS NOT DEAD sticker, along with several Siouxie stickers, which got the song "Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance To Anything)," by The Dead Milkmen stuck in my head.

Saw signs posted on various poles that read "Lost Coyote."

Startled a squirrel, who did a 360 degree flip in mid-air.

Found a key on the sidewalk in front of the playhouse, and left the key where it was.

OK, here's another thing that bugs me about my country. We can't remember how to pronounce the name Nguyen.

It is the most common family name in Vietnam. Back when I worked at Boeing, in Everett, it was rare to find an engineering group that didn't have at least one team member named Nguyen. Here at the hospital, I encounter at least one patient or staff member named Nguyen in a typical day. And yet, even here on the west coast, with its large population of people with an Asian origin, I continually hear my fellow non-Asians, and even some Asians, go into contortions trying to pronounce this common name. (It makes me cringe sometimes.) "Eng...ah..you..." "Nah...gee..." "Engagooie..."

It's pronounced "Win." To hear a Vietnamese person pronounce it, it sounds slightly different, but I've been told that if you say "Win," it's close enough. Granted, it's not spelled phonetically, but neither is "Knight."

I just wish my country was more in touch with the world beyond our borders.

Last Sunday's Writers Group and yesterday's visit to Doris, with Pastor Shannon and Phillip, gave me a lot of insight into Lee, the man in front of Starbucks. There was a lot that I never knew about him. He touched a lot of lives. It was Bernice, at Writers Group, who suggested that the reason Lee would never greet us at the corner may have been simply that there were two of us - Lee's autism may have prevented him from processing more than one input at a time.

Blogstop has slowed down a lot ever since the news that it will end at its 3000th post. There was only one post yesterday. There are currently 2892 posts. That's 120 posts in the last nine days, or an average of a little more than 13 posts a day. I'm just sorry that, for me, it had to end on a sour note.

For Writers' Group this afternoon, I brought a selection of posts from this blog - since that's really all I've written lately. I started from July 1, back when I was watching Dr. No on TNN, and read a sort of "best of" ending with the post about The Lone Ranger. When I was reading the piece about not going to Victor's memorial, Nancy got up and left the room for several minutes. Afterwards, she told me that piece had "touched a nerve," and she had had to leave. I don't think she approved of it.

In tonight's chat, Kelly commented that writing is supposed to evoke an emotion, so it must have been a good piece. I was sorry I upset Nancy, but I agree with Kelly.